The invention relates to a brake installation for railborne vehicles comprising at least one wheel axle driven by a coupled motor-transmission unit in which the unit is connected by directly meshing gears to the wheel axle in a manner avoiding an intermediate gear, preferably by way of a hollow shaft concentrically enveloping this wheel axis and the wheel axle or the hollow shaft is connected for transmitting a driving force to a disc brake by directly meshing gears on the hollow shaft and a disc brake shaft provided on that side of the wheel axle which is opposite to the unit.
A construction is known for suburban coaches, having relatively low power and low mass, in which a pinion of the drive motor directly drives a gear on the wheel set shaft, whereby an intermediate gear which increases losses of engine power can be avoided. On that side of the wheel set which is opposite to the motor, a special power take-off is provided on the gear to which a floating brake disc is fitted. However, this method of mounting of a brake disc is not suitable for relatively high motor powers respectively relatively high vehicle weights because of the required increased brake capacity and the stressing of the mountings for the brake installations connected therewith.
For that reason, in the case of railborne vehicles having higher motor capacities and relatively high weight, the brake disc have been built onto the wheel axis respectively the hollow shaft surrounding the latter, involving the drawback, however, that the distance between the motor and the wheel axle must be increased in order to provide room for the brake discs, so that it is then necessary to provide an intermediate gear in the transmission which results in additional power loss. Moreover, in that case only relatively limited space is available for fitting the brake discs.
It is possible for a plurality of brake discs to be mounted on the brake shaft. In conjunction with the feature of the releasable bearing, it is also possible to provide a modular construction with a number of brake discs on the brake shaft which is variable depending on the intended purpose of use. The railborne vehicle equipped in accordance with the invention may be provided with whatever brake capacity is suitable for the purpose, the upper limits thereof depending solely on the available space on the brake shaft.
For that purpose it is possible on the one hand to interchange the entire brake shaft and replace it by another brake shaft having a different number of brake discs firmly mounted thereon. However, advantageously according to a further feature of the invention the brake discs are fitted to the brake shaft in a releasable manner so that in a less expensive manner it is possible to increase or decrease the brake capacity merely by additionally fitting or removing the desired number of brake discs.
According to a further feature of the invention the brake calipers as well are fitted to the motor-transmission unit. In this manner relative movements between the brake discs and the brake calipers are avoided so that a uniform application of the brake power and a design of simple construction is made available whilst avoiding floatingly mounted components.